The MIRC WorkshopTutorials, Scripts and Help Files for mIRC

IRC Warfare

Non-technical Attacks

Just because the technical type attacks and exploits
get all the attention does not lessen the harmful effectiveness of the
more obvious and low-tech methods of attacking someone. Simple abuse and
smear campaigns are some of the most difficult attacks to deal with.

If another user of IRC spends his time whispering vile
insults at you well then that's exactly what the 'ignore'
function was made for. The ops of a channel or server can't help much
unless they personally witness the attacks. Logs are no good, since anything
that exists in text format can be created in a text editor. All logs can
be faked.

Simply placing the user on ignore is best. Trust your
friends to let you know what the attacker gets upto that you need know.
If you don't have friends to trust then perhaps you need to look at your
own behaviour to see why you are getting abuse but no friendships.

If an abusive idiot pursues you around then there are
two easy methods to follow. Either disconnect and redial to change your
ip to throw him off, (don't forget to change nick too), or lead him into
whatever room the server ops or IRCops tend to hang out in. The beginners
channels are often a good place. Let him get himself k-lined for unprovoked
abuse there.

Of course, not all of the non-technical abuse is direct.
Some of these nasty little kids will attempt to smear your name by using
it when you are offline. They might abuse the Ops using your name or abuse
your friends if they know who they are.

Well, if you suspect this then the answer is to warn
people you know that you believe this has been happening and ask them
to note the ip of anyone using your nick for a few days. You should also
warn the channel ops of your favourite rooms in case someone uses your
nick to abuse them in the hopes of getting you banned.

In all cases of attack of any kind your first step is
to do what you can to limit the attackers ability to harm you. The second
step is always to attempt to identify who is behind the attacks.

Retaliation is also possible. Remember, people invariably
attack others in ways that show their own vulnerabilities. A person who
criticizes weight a lot is almost always concerned about their own. Someone
who attacks personality is probably insecure about their own charm. Someone
who attacks your repute is obviously a person who is worried about reputation.
Use that weakness - write a web-page that makes them look as weak and
petty as they are.

DO NOT get involved in slanging matches. You too could
be kicked by the ops and no-one on IRC wants to be in an unpleasant channel.
By all means tear them apart in a polite and terribly patronizing manner
if you have that talent. The tactics comedians use against hecklers is
perfect.

However, do remember that comedians and the like get
paid to put themselves in the line of fire from hecklers. If you get abuse
in some channel where you don't normally hang out then the simplest and
most mature approach is simply to leave the kiddies to play in peace.

The Ignore Command

The /ignore command is actually quite a powerful command
in terms of its scope. The ignore command is not by any means an all or
nothing feature and you can set the exact things you wish to ignore.

/IGNORE [-lrpcntikxu#] <on|off|nick/address> [type]

The ignore command needs one of four parameters and
has ten switches. This allows for a great deal of 'fine tuning'. The optional
switches do the following things.

You'll note that there is an optional parameter for
[Type] which is the type of mask you specify for the user's address. See
the Hostmasks section
in Events Scripting for a full explaination of masks.

Okay lets get practical now and show some example /ignore
commands and the way that they work.

/ignore -pntiu900 George

This ignores everything EXCEPT channel text (-pnti)
from the person with the nick George. Any attempt by George to send you
notices, private messages or a ctcp message will be completely ignored
by mIRC, and it will not display to you at all. George has no clue that
he is being ignored unless you tell him so. This ignore will automatically
remove itself after 15 minutes (-u900).

/ignore George 3

This ignores everything from George using a type 3 hostmask
to identify him so that simply changing nick won't help him. It uses his
ident and domain to identify him.

Try out some of your own preferred types of ignores
and add them to some alias or popup scripts in mIRC for quick use. Need
some more ideas?

/ignore -t <nick> 3

This one just ignores ctcps from the person specified
and so blocks out things like sounds and dcc sends without blocking their
chat messages. Ideal for those times when someone is driving you mad with
non-stop sounds.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you do use ignores, remember that
they are in effect. You should check the current ignores every day or
two and remove any you no longer need. Current ignores are listed in the
options, under the 'IRC' group of options, in the 'Control'
sub-group.